SALISBURY — McLaughlin’s Grocery Store has been the beating heart at the center of the West End community for over 90 years. The McLaughlin family is working to have that heartbeat immortalized, as the store is currently the subject of a local historic landmark designation application.

The store opened as Scott’s Grocery in 1934 by James D. Scott, who is half of the namesake for the Kelsey Scott Park just over on Old Wilkesboro Road.

For the past 90 years and some change, the grocery store has remained at its location through ownership changes, with the McLaughlin family acquiring the business in 1958, and even a building change when the current brick building was built in the 1960s, replacing the previous wooden store.

The building might be a landmark solely on its own, but the McLaughlins are applying for landmark status based on the cultural significance of the store. Shirley McLaughlin said that the grocery store is one of the few remaining commercial institutions left from before urban renewal swept through the neighborhood.

“On the West End, we don’t have very much of our history left. We felt that it was just a blessing, we feel like our history should be preserved here just like anywhere else in Salisbury,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin, who can often be found working behind the register at the store, has worked there since she was a child, when it was still owned by Scott.

She said that besides serving as a center of the community, where people often gathered to catch up, share information or get advice from long-time store-owner John McLaughlin, the store also often served as a lifeline for when someone was in need. The store opened during the Great Depression, and oftentimes people would buy food on credit so that they could afford to feed their families. The McLaughlin family continued that policy.

“People didn’t have a lot of money then. Someone would come in with $43 for food for all week,” said McLaughlin.

Harry McLaughlin Sr. told Salisbury the Magazine editor Maggie Blackwell about a white farmer named Eller who had struggled during the Depression. Scott allowed him to open a credit line and pay it off as able. When the McLaughlins bought the store, they kept Eller’s account, and Eller and his wife remained customers until their deaths over 40 years later.

Longtime Salisbury Police officer Sgt. Mark Hunter famously called the store his headquarters and community activist William Peoples called McLaughlin’s Grocery his office because “that’s where he held court and heard what was on people’s minds,” wrote Salisbury Post reporter Mark Wineka in 2019.

Shirley McLaughlin’s nephew, Harry McLaughlin Jr., runs the business these days, and he said that he has been continuously updating the store’s offerings to keep the business viable in a modern economy dominated by chain stores. It’s also become another headquarters for the recently-appointed Mayor Pro Tem of Salisbury, who can be found working the butcher counter at the back of the store.

That butcher counter looks much the same as it did when the store was first built, with the original meat box, meat box, scale, chopping block and even pencil sharpener all still present. Some of them do not receive the use they previously had, the original scale has since been replaced by an electric one, for example, but they are still present in the store as a reminder of its history.

If the store were to receive landmark designation, the property would receive a 50-percent tax deferral. Most important to the McLaughlin family, however, is the recognition of the West End community’s importance in the city’s history, something that the grocery store has undoubtedly played a part in.

“It is a landmark and it is a representation of our community,” said Shirley McLaughlin.

The city is currently still under a landmark designation moratorium, meaning that applicants can continue with the application process, but the Salisbury City Council cannot make any official decisions. The moratorium was implemented in October and will end at the beginning of April.